4/22/26 A/N: Book 5 is tentatively titled, "The Path of Righteousness." Hope y'all enjoy.
Writeathon Status: 29 Chapters, 60,880 Words
Jin Jianjun had served as mayor of Azure Dusty Hills Village for going on twenty years. As a settlement of over two thousand people, they exerted some influence over even smaller nearby villages, but he knew that, in the grand scheme of things, he and his people were unimportant. Since his village wasn’t large enough to be called a town, he hadn’t even been recruited into the Emperor’s faction.
Life was mostly peaceful. There was the occasional problem with bandits passing through, and every now and again a spirit beast would claim one of his people. Mostly though, villagers worked and lived their lives until they died. The biggest issue facing the village was a lack of resources. The hills were rocky and not good for most crops. Neither was there wood or fish or ore or anything anyone desired for trade.
Keeping his citizen fed throughout the winter was his biggest problem.
The upside of village life was that, since they were so far out of the way with no resources, they were mostly left alone. Everyone knew they had no valuables, so there was no need to raid them. And there was certainly no reason for any cultivators to take an interest in them.
Until a month ago, anyway.
A polite young lady wearing a dark blue robe with silver accents knocked on the door to his house and, before he could process what was happening, handed him a letter. She flew away on an actual flying sword practically before he even responded.
Greetings Honorable Mayor Jin Jianjun,
The Azure Dusty Hills Village has been chosen as an access point for the Intracontinental Dimensional Transport Array (IDTA) hub. This honor comes with many advantages, including improved access to food, medicine, and other crucial resources. Other major benefits include access to paid career opportunities for your citizens and defenders who can protect your village from attacks by mortals, beasts, and/or cultivators.
You are not obligated to accept this honor. Representatives will arrive at your village square in exactly one month’s time at noon. Should you refuse, neither you nor your village will suffer any reprisals except for the loss of the advantages and benefits listed above.
Should you accept, you need only provide a vacant lot in or near the village that can accommodate a twenty foot by twenty foot two-story building. Separately, a small space for the IDTA portal will also need to be provided. This space can go anywhere, but it is recommended to be placed in a high traffic location such as the village’s square.
If you are unsure about accepting the honor, the representatives will be willing and able to answer any questions.
Yours in Service,
Yang Xiu, Co-Heir of the Rising Tide Sect
Jin Jianjun had never heard of that particular sect, though some eight years previous there had been news about two of the big sects being disbanded. Perhaps new sects like that one rose up to take their place.
Regardless, he did know two things. One, no matter how much a cultivator said that you have the choice to refuse whatever it was they wanted you to do, it was never, ever a good idea not to comply. Thus, two, it seemed that the village’s days of isolation were at an end.
As it neared noon on the appointed day, Jin Jianjun and the five members of the village’s council of elders waited in the square wearing their absolute finest outfits. Not knowing if the representatives would be flying or walking, they stood in a circle with their backs to each other so that they could watch each direction simultaneously.
Elder Xiao Chuntao, who was almost directly behind the mayor, was the first to spot them. “I see something.”
Everyone turned, and sure enough, three people flew toward the village. They didn’t ride swords, however, instead using triangular devices with stationary wings stylized to look like they were composed of metallic feathers. For all Jin Jianjun knew, they might actually be made of metallic feathers.
Soon, though, the three landed effortlessly in the square, and one of them, a young man, smiled at the group as he hopped off the device and walked toward the group. What he did next shocked Jin Jianjun to the core of his being.
The young cultivator, who had flown in the sky and who could probably kill every person the village in seconds, bowed deeply and cupped his hands. “Greetings Honored Mayor. Greetings Honored Elders. This one is Lin Tao from the Rising Tide Sect.”
He didn’t introduce the other two, and Jin Jianjun wasn’t bold enough to ask. In fact, he wasn’t bold enough to speak at all. The first thing that came to his mind was to protest that the young man shouldn’t bow to them, but voicing that sentiment would be correcting a cultivator’s action, not something a mortal should do if they wanted to continue breathing.
“Have the Honored Mayor and Honored Elders decided whether or not to accept placement of the IDTA portal?”
For a moment, Jin Jianjun had no idea what was being asked. When he’d read the message, he’d spelled out the four-letter abbreviation, but the young man had said it like a word.
“The Azure Dusty Hills Village would be honored to have the IDTA portal placed here, Esteemed Cultivator” Jin Jianjun eventually said.
“Fantastic. I just need to see the vacant lot for the SRHU and for you to tell me where you want the IDTA portal.”
“Pardon, Esteemed Cultivator. SRHU?” Questioning the young man was quite a risk, but the entire conversation had quite befuddled the mayor.
“Standardized Remote Housing Unit. I believe the message requested that you set aside space for a twenty by twenty building.”
“Yes, Esteemed Cultivator. Please pardon this old man for his foolishness. There is a perfect place right across the square,” the mayor said, pointing.
The young man cupped his hands again. “Gratitude, Honored Mayor. Please stay right here. This won’t take but a minute.”
He quickly walked to the middle of the vacant space. Once there, a flat piece of rectangular metal appeared out of nowhere, and he alternated between tracing his finger around its surface and tapping it. A moment later, he retreated from the space, and a sphere appeared in his hand. The cultivator tossed that sphere near where he’d been standing and … a two-story building appeared.
A building. Two stories. Appeared.
It was painted blue with a tiled roof and appeared much, much nicer than any other structure in the village.
“I love the new dimensionally compressed versions,” the young man said after he’d walked back to the group of villagers. “The Sect Leader only perfected them a year and a half ago. Before that, the technician in my position had to actually dig a foundation and do a lot of measurements. Now, it’s just throw the sphere, and the building pops out exactly where I positioned it on the tablet. Pretty cool huh?”
The time it took the young man to stroll back had given Jin Jianjun a moment to restore his senses after seeing an entire building pop into existence, so he managed to speak. “It is indeed cool, Esteemed Cultivator.”
The young man smiled. “Where do you want the IDTA portal?”
Lessons taught to Jin Jianjun over the course of his entire life about how to behave toward cultivators warred with instincts that told him it would be okay to question the seemingly affable young man. Against the mayor’s better judgment, his gut won.
“May this old man ask what exactly an IDTA portal is, Esteemed Cultivator?”
“Of course.” The young man seemed to grow excited. “Travel from place to place takes a lot of time, right?”
The mayor nodded his agreement to the obvious question.
“Well, the sect leader can go from place to place instantly as long as he’s been there before.” The young man gestured to a metallic device strapped to his waist that appeared to hold a stack of rectangular papers. “With these babies, we can, too. But what about regular people? The material cost and qi cost would simply be too high to give everyone talismans, right?”
The mayor nodded again.
“At first, the sect leader thought about establishing teleportation networks to link population centers together, but no matter how he looked at it, the cost per trip, CPT, was simply too high. Once he abandoned that line of thought, he figured out a much better solution—Inter-Dimensional Travel, IDT.”
The young man was clearly excited and talking very fast. The mayor felt like he only understood one word in five, but he kept nodding along.
“Each IDTA portal connects to a hub. Now, that hub could theoretically connect to an infinite number of portals, but each one requires a greater cost in resources and qi than the previous one. So the sect leader had to balance convenience versus cost and settled on each hub connecting to ten portals, which means we have to be careful with the network layout to ensure that we can get to any destination from any other. Understand?”
“Yes, Esteemed Cultivator,” Jin Jianjun said, even though he didn’t at all.
“Of course, setting these things up is expensive. Lots of resources. Lots of Spatial aspected greater spirit coins. The benefit, though, is that the CPT is ridiculously low. So we’re able to let everyone have unlimited usage of it for free, though our partners, the Poison Claw Sect and the Emperor’s faction, do contribute to the fund since they get so much use out of it as well.”
“Impressive, Esteemed Cultivator.”
It seemed like the right thing to say, and Jin Jianjun turned out to be right. The young man beamed.
“It is, and I am proud to be a part of this historic invention. Truly world changing.” The cultivator pulled out another sphere from nowhere. “Give me a second, and I’ll show you.” He paused. “Where do you want it?”
“Where ever you think would be best, Esteemed Cultivator.”
The young man chose a spot near the center of the square and threw the ball. When it landed, a wood arch about eight feet tall with metallic accents appeared. “Give me just a moment to get it connected to the network.”
A metal rectangle like the one the young man held was attached to the right side of the arch’s frame about halfway up. He started tapping on the metal, and characters appeared.
After a couple of minutes, he turned around. “All done. I’ve been told that, when they first started this about five years ago, just that bit of set up took literally hours. The Formations Pavilion, of which I am a member, was instrumental in making the process much more efficient. I actually developed one of the primary subroutines myself.”
He seemed so proud of the stated accomplishment that Jin Jianjun felt the need to offer praise.
“Excellent work, Esteemed Cultivator.”
The young man cupped his hands again. “Gratitude for the acknowledgement.”
The mayor had never had a personal encounter with an cultivator, and the current experience was not at all what he had expected.
“Okay, we’re all set up,” the young man said. “Let’s show you what it can do. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like to go?”
“Go, Esteemed Cultivator?”
“Yeah, like to Sixth Flawless Flowing City or Vermilion Incomparable Rain Town, for example? Or… I know. Have you ever been to the ocean?”
“I haven’t, Esteemed Cultivator, but my grandfather long ago was drafted into a noble’s army and traveled to a place near the ocean for a siege. He told me stories about a vast expanse of water as far as the eye could see. This old man has always wanted to see it.”
“Perfect.” The young man turned toward the archway. “System, administrator protocol. Seven to travel to Heavens’ Waters Beach Resort.”
“Acknowledged,” a voice from the rectangular metal plate attached to the arch said. “Transport prepared for seven to Heavens’ Waters Beach Resort.”
The young man turned back to the group. “You’re going to love this. Follow me.”
He walked toward the archway like he was going to pass through it. Once he stepped under it, however, he disappeared.
The mayor and the elders stood there just looking at it, all wondering what they were supposed to do.
“He’s fine,” one of the other cultivators said. “This technology has been tested literally hundreds of thousands of times with absolutely no issues. Unless you somehow hit your head on the arch or something, there’s no danger at all. Please step through.”
Jin Jianjun cupped his hands. “Of course, Esteemed Cultivator.”
He swallowed hard. Considering that a cultivator had ordered them to do it, they had no choice but to do exactly that.
With no small amount of fear and his heart thudding strongly, he stepped through the archway … and into a nice hall with ornate columns and a polished granite floor. Besides the one he’d come through, there were nine other arches around the outside of the hall. One of them glowed with a green light.
The young man was there waiting for him. “Move away from the portal, please. Don’t want your friends to run into you, right?”
Oh. Yeah.
Jin Jianjun moved just in time as Elder Xiao appeared right where he’d been standing.
Once all six of the villagers were inside, the young man said, “The sect leader had the beach resort constructed, so it’s connected directly to the sect. We’ll have to go through on intermediary hub before reaching the sect and then straight through to the beach. Follow me, please.”
He stepped through the green glowing portal.
The second time was much easier as walking through the portal felt no different than walking through a doorway, and Jin Jianjun ended up in an almost identical hall, the only difference being a plague with a slightly different set of characters than the one in the previous hall. Stepping through the third time was easier still, and the fourth led them outside.
“Behold, the ocean!” the young man said dramatically.
The view was amazing. White sands. Turquoise water. Sun shining. A strong, fresh breeze.
Jin Jianjun didn’t know what changes the days events portended, but he did know that his world had just gotten much larger.